FOREST RESEARCH NOTES 

NORTHEASTERN FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION - - - 

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania 

No. 22 

September 1953 

1---- --- -- - I 

i I 

! 

A Volume Table for Virginia Pine NOTICE 

This issue intraduces In Prince Georges County, Maryland a change in format c " 

our Research Nates. : ! 

: Earlier notes in this , During the last 50 years Virginia - j series were issued as ! pine (pinus virginiana Miller) has emerged . half-page folders . as a tree of commercial importance. Once 

regarded as a weed species, Virginia pine 

I 

i. - ---- -- - -- --- - -- -- i 

is short-lived and limby, but it makes 

rapid early growth. It is used chiefly for pulpwood Some 

sawlogs are cut from older stands, but they yield only 

common-grade lumber. Occasionally anolder, well-formed 

stand will produce some piling. 

As use of this species increased, the need for volume 

tables arose. Some volume tables have been prepared for 

localities where demand for Virginia pine has been greatest; 

they showed volume in board feet and.cords. 

But there are great variations in board-.foot volume, 

depending on the log rule used. And cordwood volume is 

affected by size of stick, crook, knottiness, and method of 

stacking. So the cubic foot seems to be the best measure of 

actual wood content. It can readily be converted into cords 

or board feet. I 

Several cubic-foot volume tables have been constructed for Virginia pine, by diameter and height classes. Most 

of these give total tree volume. However, McIntyre constructed a merchantable cubic-foot volume table for this 

species in ~enns~luania.' 

Since it was possible that volume data for Pennsylvania would not apply to trees growing in Prince Georges 

County, Maryland, a local volume table was designed (table 1). 

A comparison of the two tables showed that, for diameter 

classes above 10 inches, the merchantable cubic-foot volume 

in Maryland became progressively greater than that in Penn- 

- - -. - - - 

'~clntyre, A. C. Virginia pine in Pennsylvania. Pa. State Coll. Bul. 

300, 31pp. 1933. 

1 

,t 
I 

L 

Table 1.--Merchantable cubic-foot volume table L 

for Virginia pine in Prince Georges County, Mdo 

. 

Jt Merchantability is based on solid wood 

content from a 1-foot stump to a minimum top 

diameter inside bark of 1, inches for tot,al volume and 6 inches for sawlog volumen 

sylvania. For diameters below 10 inches the differences 

were slight, 

In constructing the local volume .table for Maryland, 

a method recently developed by ~ickford~ was used. One outstanding feature of this new method is that relatively few 

sample trees are required to develop an accurate volume 

table. Fundamentally, the tabular data are derived from 

rneasyrernents of fou~ stem, sections: (1) bottom half of butt 

log, (2) top half of butt log, (3) sawlog portion above butt 

for sawlog-size trees or cordwood portion above butt for 

' '~ickford, C. d Upublishcd memorandum. Northeast. Forest Expt. St. 

21 pp 195 1 
polethbe~ trees, and (4) merchantable volume in tops of 

sawlog-size trees, 

Sample trees used were taken over a range of site and 

we classes on the Beltsville Ekperimental Forest. Diameters 

paned from 5 to 18 inches at breast height (d.b,h.). but 

the basic data were extended to include trees up to 20 

inches. For all trees sampled, the average fow class waa 

83 and the average butt c-s mr3 87. Merchantable lengths, 

by 1-inch diameter classes, were taken from the follolring 

regressions, in which X = dab. h. and y1 = merchantable 

length t 

(1) Regression for total merchantable length 

(2) Regression for total sawlog length 

The merchantable lengths computed froin these regressions were applied by Bickfordts method to compute volume by 

stem sections a 

The figures given in the local volume table (table 1) 

represent cubic-foot volumes inside bark from a 1-foot stump 

to a minimum top diameter inside bark of 6 inches for sawlogs and 4 inches for cordwood, In using these data, please 

bear in mind that this is a local volume table, prepared 

primarily for use in the Beltsville Experimental Forest and 

vicinity. 

--THOMAS W. CHURCH, JR, 

Agriculture-Forest Service-Upper Darby, Pa